HC Deb 02 December 2002 vol 395 c551W
Mr. Hawkins

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what projects he is funding within his Children and Young Persons Unit; whether these projects are on time and on budget; and if he will make a statement. [82114]

Mr. Denham

[holding answer 21 November 2002]: A full list of the individual projects funded by the Unit could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Children and Young People's Unit has a total budget of £850 million for the period 2001–02 to 2005–06. The bulk of the Unit's funding goes towards a range of local projects distributed as follows:

  1. (a) Children's Fund Programmes bringing together local voluntary organisations, statutory agencies, community and faith groups, children and young people and their families, to deliver a range of locally co-ordinated preventive services for 5–13 year olds at risk.
  2. (b) the Local Network Fund for Children and Young People enabling community groups to provide activities and services for children and young people experiencing poverty and lack of opportunity.
  3. (c) the Identification, Referral and Tracking project, in the context of work with local authorities on Local Preventive Strategies, to support all local authorities in developing systems to ensure that children and young people at risk do not fall through the gaps in services.
  4. (d) smaller scale initiatives for specific purposes, such as recent development work to test approaches to preventing young people running away and supporting them when they do; and community cohesion work with children from seven cities around the country to discuss what it means to be British.

The Unit also holds a small central budget for research and evaluation requirements, communications and the effective dissemination of emerging good practice.

Projects within the Unit are being rolled out at a pace which will enable them to spend their budgets in full by 2005–06.